The Panthers have agreed to terms with seven undrafted free agents, the team announced today in a press release. Here’s a breakdown of the players who will officially be joining Carolina’s 90-man roster, according to the club:
The Chiefs are the latest team to officially announce that they’ve exercised a fifth-year option on a 2013 first-rounder. In Kansas City’s case, that player is former No. 1 overall pick, Eric Fisher. The Chiefs formally confirmed (via Twitter) that they’ve exercised the veteran tackle’s 2017 option.
Fisher, 25, has been a starter for the Chiefs – first at right tackle and then at left tackle – since being selected first overall in the 2013 draft. Although his first two years were somewhat underwhelming, he showed signs of improvement in 2015, particularly down the stretch. His performance was enough to convince the Chiefs to exercise his option for 2017, which will put him in line for a $11.902MM salary.
Of course, for now, that option is only guaranteed for injury, so as long as Fisher stays healthy in 2016, Kansas City’s real decision will happen next March — on the first day of the 2017 league year, Fisher’s $11.902MM salary would become fully guaranteed.
Fisher had been one of two offensive tackles at the top of the 2013 draft whose fifth-year option for 2017 wasn’t necessarily a slam dunk. The Jaguars have yet to announce a decision on the No. 2 overall pick from that draft, tackle Luke Joeckel.
The full list of fifth-year option decisions for 2017 can be found right here.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
In advance of the deadline for fifth-year options for 2013 first-round picks to be exercised, the 49ers have picked up their option on safety Eric Reid, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). The move will ensure that Reid is on San Francisco’s books for a $5.676MM salary in 2017.
[RELATED: Fifth-Year Option Decision Tracker]
Reid, 24, has been a full-time starter for the 49ers since entering the league as the 18th overall pick in 2013. In 2015, he made 66 tackles to go along with a sack and a forced fumble, failing to record an interception for the first time in his career. The LSU product grabbed three picks in 2014, and four in his Pro Bowl rookie season.
The Niners’ decision to exercise Reid’s option for 2017 comes as no surprise. General manager Trent Baalke said in April that the team would either retain Reid by exercising his fifth-year option or by extending him.
While his option has now been picked up, Reid could still sign a longer-term extension with San Francisco anytime between now and when he’s eligible to hit the open market, in March of 2018.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
MONDAY, 10:05am: The Lions have officially exercised Ansah’s option, worth $12.734MM, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
SUNDAY, 10:02am: The Lions are expected to pick up Ziggy Ansah‘s fifth-year option in short order, according to Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. After concluding his first draft as Detroit’s GM Saturday night, Bob Quinn told the media, “I’ll have an update on [Ansah] for you in a few days.”
In March, we learned that an extension was not yet in the works, and nothing appears to have changed on that front. For the time being, the Lions appear content to control their star pass rusher via the fifth-year option in 2017, and, if need be, the franchise tag in 2018.
Of course, neither of those routes are going to be cheap. The fifth-year option for Ansah will cost the Lions nearly $13MM, and the 2017 franchise tag value for defensive ends may top $16MM. And, if Ansah’s career continues at its current trajectory, any long-term contract that the Lions attempt to work out in the future will make a major dent on the team’s books.
When Detroit selected Ansah with the fifth overall pick of the 2013 draft, it knew it was getting a raw player with vast potential waiting to be unlocked. And over his first three years in the league, Ansah has steadily unlocked that potential, exploding for 14.5 sacks in 2015 to go along with his first Pro Bowl nod (he also graded out as the 27th-best edge defender out of 110 qualified players per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics). As Joel Corry of CBSSports.com observed last month, when Ansah and the Lions begin to discuss a new contract, Olivier Vernon‘s five-year, $85MM deal with the Giants containing $52.5MM in guarantees will be an important benchmark.
Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com writes that, when the Lions exercise Ansah’s fifth-year option, the two sides may begin preliminary conversations about a long-term deal. The team has until Tuesday, May 3, to exercise the option, a process you can read all about right here.
Now let’s check out a a couple more notes on the Lions:
9:55am: The Vikings have informed Patterson that they won’t be picking up his option, a source tells Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune.
9:49am: The Vikings have option decisions on three players to announce today, and they’ve already made at least two of those decisions. According to agent Sunny Shah (via Twitter), Minnesota has picked up the fifth-year option on his client, cornerback Xavier Rhodes. The team has also exerci
sed its fifth-year option on defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
[RELATED: 2017 Fifth-Year Option Decision Tracker]
Both moves had been anticipated, since Rhodes and Floyd have been solid pieces of the Vikings’ defense since joining the team, and their projected 2017 salaries aren’t exorbitant. Floyd, the 23rd overall pick in 2013, will earn a $6.757MM salary on his 2017 option year, while Rhodes, the 25th overall pick, will be in line for an $8.026MM salary.
While Floyd, who has started 23 games for Minnesota over the last two seasons, figures to continue in a similar role going forward, Rhodes will have a little more competition at cornerback in 2016 and 2017 — the Vikings used their second-round pick on Friday to nab Clemson’s Mackensie Alexander, one of the top cornerbacks in this year’s draft, so he’ll join Rhodes, Terence Newman, Trae Waynes, and Captain Munnerlyn in Minneapolis.
The Vikings’ third option decision today is for wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who would be owed a $7.915MM salary in 2017 if the team picks up his fifth-year option. It does not appear likely to be exercised.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
MAY 2: The Jets have officially exercised their 2017 option on Richardson, per Mehta (Twitter link). However, as Brian Costello of the New York Post tweets, the club won’t be picking up cornerback Dee Milliner‘s option, so he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency next year.
APRIL 18: The Jets will exercise their fifth-year option on defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson in advance of next month’s deadline, writes Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. The decision comes as no surprise, since Richardson has been one of the Jets’ best defensive players since entering the NFL in 2013, and his option salary won’t be fully guaranteed right away.
[RELATED: No agreement expected before draft for Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick]
As Joel Corry of CBSSports.com tweets, Richardson’s fifth-year option for 2017 will be worth $8.069MM. That figure is guaranteed for injury only until the first day of the 2017 league year next March, at which point it becomes fully guaranteed as long as Richardson remains under contract.
Richardson, who served a four-game suspension at the start of the 2015 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, was his usual effective self upon returning, picking up five sacks and forcing a couple fumbles. Pro Football Focus, which classified him as an edge defender, ranked him 30th out of 110 qualified players in the group.
Despite the fact that the Jets used their franchise tag on Muhammad Wilkerson this offseason, the team is believed to prefer Richardson in the long term, as long as he can stay out of trouble off the field. The Wilkerson situation will be interesting to monitor — if he’s traded or even just doesn’t sign a multiyear deal with the Jets, it probably increases the chances of the club eventually working out a long-term deal with Richardson instead.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Peter King of TheMMQB.com spent time last week in the Cowboys‘ draft room as Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones mulled over potential franchise-altering decisions, and King’s latest MMQB column features plenty of tidbits related to the Cowboys’ draft. Let’s dive in and round up the highlights…
A participant in the NFL draft since the inaugural selection gathering in 1936, the Giants did not take a lineman for the first time in team history this weekend. However, offensive line was a priority going into the draft, a source tells Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, and Jack Conklin was a top-two choice on the Giants’ board before he went No. 8 to the Titans.
“There were discussions here or there,” Giants VP of player evaluation Marc Ross told media, including Vacchiano. “But nobody at the time who was the highest-ranked player on our board, or close to that.”
After cutting Will Beatty and Geoff Schwartz prior to the start of free agency, the Giants spent wildly to upgrade their defense but have left their offensive front unchanged. Marshall Newhouse and John Jerry remain atop the depth chart at right tackle and right guard, respectively. Ben McAdoo told media after the draft the right side of the Giants’ line is far from settled.
Here’s the latest from the NFC coming out of draft weekend.
The Dolphins slotted Laremy Tunsil as their No. 2-rated player before the draft, with Jaguars defensive back Jalen Ramsey at No. 1, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reports. Had Tunsil not fallen to them at No. 13, the Dolphins would have been inclined to trade back and seek cornerback help, Salguero writes.
Among corners, the Dolphins had Eli Apple rated No. 2 behind Ramsey. Although Miami traded for Byron Maxwell, the team is now without all three of its primary starters from 2015 — Brent Grimes, Brice McCain and Jamar Taylor, the latter being traded to the Browns for a seventh-round pick Saturday.
Here’s more from the AFC as we transition into a post-draft world, beginning with more on the Dolphins’ board.
6:54pm: The Bears did not offer Slauson a chance to take a pay reduction, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. He carried a $2.89MM base salary for 2016. Slauson made just $2.75MM last year and resided as the Bears’ second-highest-paid lineman — behind Bobby Massie — going into the weekend.
6:01pm: A couple of hours after announcing Antrel Rolle‘s time in the Windy City would be limited to one year, the Bears moved on from a longer-tenured cog by releasing Matt Slauson, Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times reports (on Twitter).
Chicago’s primary left guard since 2013, Slauson played with the Bears for three seasons, starting every game in which he played. However, the Bears selected Kansas State guard Cody Whitehair, a prospect viewed by many as the top guard in the draft, and it looks like he’ll be given a strong chance to become Slauson’s successor at left guard as Kyle Long ventures back to right guard.
Entering his age-30 campaign, Slauson was set to make $3.4MM this season. The Bears, who also signed Manny Ramirez and Ted Larsen to help out on the interior, will take on just more than $800K of dead money as a result of this transaction. Should the Bears designate Slauson as a post-June 1 cut, that amount can be spread over each of the final two years of his Chicago contract.
This also marks the second offensive line starter Chicago jettisoned this offseason; new Dolphins lineman Jermon Bushrod was released with a failed physical designation.
Second-year GM Ryan Pace praised Slauson and Rolle for their leadership (via Jahns, on Twitter).
Slauson should generate some interest on the free agent market for guard- or center-needy teams after he rebounded nicely from a malady-marred 2014 season in which a torn pectoral muscle limited him to five games. A former sixth-round selection of the Jets’ in 2009, Slauson shifted to center for much of last season due to 2015 rookie Hroniss Grasu‘s neck injury-induced eight-game absence and graded out as Pro Football Focus’ fifth-best player at that spot last season. Ramirez slotted in at No. 4. The former John Fox charge in Denver has extensive experience playing both center and guard.